1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a window blind trimmer and more specifically to a universal trimmer which is capable of trimming a wide variety of window blinds.
2. Background Art
Window blinds are the most popular and economical means for dressing a window. They provide an ergonomical and pleasant covering for windows. Window blinds commonly consist of a plurality of horizontal slats mounted between a top head rail and a bottom rail by a plurality of vertical cords threaded through openings formed in the slats. Two of the cords located adjacent to the two sides of the blind commonly provide a pull cord adapted to a pulley mechanism such that they are operative for raising the slats and the bottom rail to bundle the slats beneath and adjacent to the top head rail so as to open the blind, or lowering the slats to position evenly spaced from one another horizontally over the window. The slats may also be turned horizontally to either close or open the spacing between them whereby to close or open respectively the view through the window. The slats are made in a variety of materials such as plastic, wood, fabric, fiber material, or metal. Similarly, the head rail and the bottom rail may also be made in a variety of plastic materials or metals.
Due to the variety of sizes of windows, window blinds are commonly produced in several standard sizes that conform with windows of some standard sizes. For non-standard size windows, a blind slightly larger then the window opening must be custom trimmed by the vendor or installer to fit the window. The vertical length of the blind is trimmed by removing some of the slats from a blind having a longer vertical length than the window opening, while the width of the blinds must be trimmed by cutting off two equal end portions of the head rail, bottom rail and slats from a width longer than the window opening so that the blind may fit inside the window opening. The head rail and the bottom rail are commonly trimmed by inserting individually their ends to be cut into a die provided on a support frame. The die has an openings in the shape and size of the cross sectional shape and size of the head rail and bottom rail and a shear is activated either pneumatically, electrically, or manually to cut off the selected end portions. The slats may then be bundled together with their ends inserted and mounted firmly into the trimmer such that the selected end portions may be trimmed off with an electric rotary saw or pneumatic shear which are also mounted on the support frame.
Due to the wide variety of shapes and sizes and materials of the head rail and bottom rail as well as the slats in the variety of window blinds, it is necessary for the vendor such as a building supply store to equip with a plurality of trimming machines with each machine dedicated for cutting a different variety of blind. This requires a considerable amount of floor space at the vendor for installing and operating the plurality of trimming machines whereas vendor's floor space is always at a minimum in order the maximum amount of floor space may be used to accommodate a maximum amount of merchandise.